In the Moliere’s play “Tartuffe” there are only two characters who liked hypocrite Tartuffe. They are mother and son, Madame Pernelle and Orgon. Orgon is one of the main characters in the play but his mother appeared only twice. The play started with Madame Pernelle. But what was Moliere’s reason to introduce Madame Pernelle’s character? There could be two possible reasons for it.
The first reason is to put Orgon in the same situation as his whole family was before, when he was blind and obsessed with Tartuffe. Finally, in the fourth Act he realized who Tartuffe was. We can compare Act 1 Scene 5 and Act 5 Scene 3. Two scenes are exactly the same. But the characters changed. In the first scene the whole family confronts Orgon about Tartuffe. And in the second scene Orgon has already took everybody’s side and tried to explain his mother who Tartuffe was. Of course, she did not believe him and this was clear parallel of the plot lines. In such way Molier taught Orgon a lesson and punished for his silliness and absurdness. Scene 3 in the Act V starts with Madame Pernelle and her son’s conversation. He tried to explain her the reality about Tartuffe. Orgon sustained a defeat. To make it more severe the author used Dorine with her ironic remarks. At first, through her character we hear: “Poor fellow!” These were exactly the same words which were used by Orgon in the first Act. Moliere wanted to remind the audience how ridiculous Orgon was in the beginning. Later on Dorine said: “It’s your turn now, Sir, not to be listen to; / You’d not trust us, and now she won’t trust you.” The author one more time made the accent on the similarity of the plot lines.
The second reason to have Madam Pernelle’s character in the play is to show the biggest danger of hypocrisy: it is difficult to believe in hypocrite’s villainy and amorality until you directly experience his criminal and immoral activity and see his face without fake pious mask. With the help of Orgon’s and Madame Pernelle’s characters we can see the plot spiral. Both mother and son realized the true Tartuffe’s nature only when they could see the real proof. Finally, in the Act 5 Orgon was convinced that Tartuffe was completely a different person. Both mother and son followed the same plot path. But Orgon was the first one and Madame Pernelly followed him. In the first Act and second Act we could find the similarities in their speeches. Orgon: “Say of him, then, /That he’s very worthiest of men, And that you’re fond of him, …” Madame Pernelle: “He’s out to save your souls, and all of you / Must love him, as my son would have you do.” Both tried to convince others to love Tartuffe as they did. Right after the scene when Orgon experienced evil intentions of Tartuffe we could see that he finally realized what was happening all that time. Orgon: “That man’s a perfect monster, I must admit! / I’m simply stunned. I can’t get over it.” The same repeated with madame Pernelle. She was able to believe her son only when Tartuffe proved his hypocrisy in front of her. It happened when Monsieur Loyal told news about eviction. Madame Pernelle: “ I’m thunderstruck. I’m utterly aghast.” The scary thing in both situations is that neither Orgon nor madame Pernelle had any doubts about honesty and sacredness of Tartuffe until he uncovered his true face.
Moliere created Tartuffe as a character that meant to depict one of the most widespread problems of the French society in 17th century – religious hypocrisy. The name Tartuffe translates as a liar from one of the French dialects. However, over the centuries this name became a common name for all kind of double-faced social types of behavior and hypocrisy. Catholic Church and Monarchy defined every level of French social structure in 17th century and as such Moliere’s Tartuffe is a person, who exaggeratedly using these strict morals and principles of religion in order to present himself as a “saint,” and thus, to manipulate his way in society.
Throughout the play Tartuffe has clearly defined characteristics. He has distinctly stated goals in his life. In the beginning of the play we are told that he started out as a starved “wretched pauper” (p.356), transforming himself throughout the play towards the last scenes, where he nearly reaches his goal and becomes “a lord and master” (p.359) of Orgon’s estate. It is undeniable, that Tartuffe is smart and very determined in his ambitions. But foremost, he possesses excellent psychoanalytical skills. He shows good knowledge and understanding of social structure and people’s character, which instantly helps him to identify weaknesses in others and how to manipulate them towards his own interest. The most obvious example is his relations with Orgon. Orgon is a wealthy patriarch, whose opinion is the only one that matters in the family. Therefore, Tartuffe’s first milestone goal is to be adored and highly praised by Orgon, despite other family members’ opinions.
Orgon’s life is determined by his religious beliefs. He looks at religion as a way to become a better human being. Thus, having such a “saint” as Tartuffe as a mentor brings Orgon to a whole new level of existence: “under his tutelage his soul’s been freed from earthy loves, and every human tie” (p.320). The rich patriarch unconditionally follows all of Tartuffe’s precepts, which leads Orgon to showering his “saint” with gifts, offering him his only daughter as a wife, assigning him his son’s inheritance and even letting Tartuffe be in an intimate proximity to his own wife. But Tartuffe doesn’t stop there. He plans his game a few steps ahead. Besides all the luxury he receives, Tartuffe also secures his positions by obtaining compromising information about Orgon. Tartuffe knows Orgon’s secret regarding a “certain strong-box,” that Orgon agreed to hide for his friend. By manipulating another trusty patriarch’s weakness, “vexed conscience” about the papers inside the box, Tartuffe effortlessly gets the compromising documents in his possession.
Still, another interesting Tartuffe’s characteristic is revealed in the last scene of the play, where he comes across as a chameleon. As it was mentioned in the beginning of this post, there were two ruling powers in French society: Church and Monarchy. Throughout the play Tartuffe hypocritically uses religion to achieve his goals. However, in the very end he takes 180-degree turn and becomes a devoted servant to the King and states, “that obligation is so paramount that other claims, besides it, do not count” (p.361).
Such well-portrayed Tartuffe’s social type, which was typical in 17th century, remains highly relevant in modern society. People continually hypocritically use religion and politics as armor in their lives. A vivid example of it would be such a debatable religious movement as Scientology, which often recognized as a cult and associated with money and power.
The character of Tartuffe represents those members of society who preach religious piety but do not themselves live by the morals they try to force upon others. Because the play focuses on the issue of religious hypocrisy, it was highly controversial at the time it was written and was banned from public performance for five years. Tartuffe’s superiority lies in the fact that he can accurately analyze the weaknesses of his victims and then use these flaws for his own advantage. Despite the fact that this play is two-dimensional, this play becomes one of my favorite one and there are plenty of reasons. The first point belongs to language, which is the key. Moliere sophisticatedly used essential words in order to express tiniest details and highlight delicate humor and satire, which is my second favorite part in this play. Even in translations, play still has its rhymes and reads with joy. Then I liked the characters and how all of them represent Barocco times and Louis XIV and king of France. Now we do not have anything like it and it is unusual to read something, which is not associated with our time. Even more, it emphasizes that King is an absolute power and deride church as an institution.
Anna Savina: Blog Post
In the Moliere’s play “Tartuffe” there are only two characters who liked hypocrite Tartuffe. They are mother and son, Madame Pernelle and Orgon. Orgon is one of the main characters in the play but his mother appeared only twice. The play started with Madame Pernelle. But what was Moliere’s reason to introduce Madame Pernelle’s character? There could be two possible reasons for it.
The first reason is to put Orgon in the same situation as his whole family was before, when he was blind and obsessed with Tartuffe. Finally, in the fourth Act he realized who Tartuffe was. We can compare Act 1 Scene 5 and Act 5 Scene 3. Two scenes are exactly the same. But the characters changed. In the first scene the whole family confronts Orgon about Tartuffe. And in the second scene Orgon has already took everybody’s side and tried to explain his mother who Tartuffe was. Of course, she did not believe him and this was clear parallel of the plot lines. In such way Molier taught Orgon a lesson and punished for his silliness and absurdness. Scene 3 in the Act V starts with Madame Pernelle and her son’s conversation. He tried to explain her the reality about Tartuffe. Orgon sustained a defeat. To make it more severe the author used Dorine with her ironic remarks. At first, through her character we hear: “Poor fellow!” These were exactly the same words which were used by Orgon in the first Act. Moliere wanted to remind the audience how ridiculous Orgon was in the beginning. Later on Dorine said: “It’s your turn now, Sir, not to be listen to; / You’d not trust us, and now she won’t trust you.” The author one more time made the accent on the similarity of the plot lines.
The second reason to have Madam Pernelle’s character in the play is to show the biggest danger of hypocrisy: it is difficult to believe in hypocrite’s villainy and amorality until you directly experience his criminal and immoral activity and see his face without fake pious mask. With the help of Orgon’s and Madame Pernelle’s characters we can see the plot spiral. Both mother and son realized the true Tartuffe’s nature only when they could see the real proof. Finally, in the Act 5 Orgon was convinced that Tartuffe was completely a different person. Both mother and son followed the same plot path. But Orgon was the first one and Madame Pernelly followed him. In the first Act and second Act we could find the similarities in their speeches. Orgon: “Say of him, then, /That he’s very worthiest of men, And that you’re fond of him, …” Madame Pernelle: “He’s out to save your souls, and all of you / Must love him, as my son would have you do.” Both tried to convince others to love Tartuffe as they did. Right after the scene when Orgon experienced evil intentions of Tartuffe we could see that he finally realized what was happening all that time. Orgon: “That man’s a perfect monster, I must admit! / I’m simply stunned. I can’t get over it.” The same repeated with madame Pernelle. She was able to believe her son only when Tartuffe proved his hypocrisy in front of her. It happened when Monsieur Loyal told news about eviction. Madame Pernelle: “ I’m thunderstruck. I’m utterly aghast.” The scary thing in both situations is that neither Orgon nor madame Pernelle had any doubts about honesty and sacredness of Tartuffe until he uncovered his true face.
Tartuffe As a Social Type
Moliere created Tartuffe as a character that meant to depict one of the most widespread problems of the French society in 17th century – religious hypocrisy. The name Tartuffe translates as a liar from one of the French dialects. However, over the centuries this name became a common name for all kind of double-faced social types of behavior and hypocrisy. Catholic Church and Monarchy defined every level of French social structure in 17th century and as such Moliere’s Tartuffe is a person, who exaggeratedly using these strict morals and principles of religion in order to present himself as a “saint,” and thus, to manipulate his way in society.
Throughout the play Tartuffe has clearly defined characteristics. He has distinctly stated goals in his life. In the beginning of the play we are told that he started out as a starved “wretched pauper” (p.356), transforming himself throughout the play towards the last scenes, where he nearly reaches his goal and becomes “a lord and master” (p.359) of Orgon’s estate. It is undeniable, that Tartuffe is smart and very determined in his ambitions. But foremost, he possesses excellent psychoanalytical skills. He shows good knowledge and understanding of social structure and people’s character, which instantly helps him to identify weaknesses in others and how to manipulate them towards his own interest. The most obvious example is his relations with Orgon. Orgon is a wealthy patriarch, whose opinion is the only one that matters in the family. Therefore, Tartuffe’s first milestone goal is to be adored and highly praised by Orgon, despite other family members’ opinions.
Orgon’s life is determined by his religious beliefs. He looks at religion as a way to become a better human being. Thus, having such a “saint” as Tartuffe as a mentor brings Orgon to a whole new level of existence: “under his tutelage his soul’s been freed from earthy loves, and every human tie” (p.320). The rich patriarch unconditionally follows all of Tartuffe’s precepts, which leads Orgon to showering his “saint” with gifts, offering him his only daughter as a wife, assigning him his son’s inheritance and even letting Tartuffe be in an intimate proximity to his own wife. But Tartuffe doesn’t stop there. He plans his game a few steps ahead. Besides all the luxury he receives, Tartuffe also secures his positions by obtaining compromising information about Orgon. Tartuffe knows Orgon’s secret regarding a “certain strong-box,” that Orgon agreed to hide for his friend. By manipulating another trusty patriarch’s weakness, “vexed conscience” about the papers inside the box, Tartuffe effortlessly gets the compromising documents in his possession.
Still, another interesting Tartuffe’s characteristic is revealed in the last scene of the play, where he comes across as a chameleon. As it was mentioned in the beginning of this post, there were two ruling powers in French society: Church and Monarchy. Throughout the play Tartuffe hypocritically uses religion to achieve his goals. However, in the very end he takes 180-degree turn and becomes a devoted servant to the King and states, “that obligation is so paramount that other claims, besides it, do not count” (p.361).
Such well-portrayed Tartuffe’s social type, which was typical in 17th century, remains highly relevant in modern society. People continually hypocritically use religion and politics as armor in their lives. A vivid example of it would be such a debatable religious movement as Scientology, which often recognized as a cult and associated with money and power.
The character of Tartuffe represents those members of society who preach religious piety but do not themselves live by the morals they try to force upon others. Because the play focuses on the issue of religious hypocrisy, it was highly controversial at the time it was written and was banned from public performance for five years. Tartuffe’s superiority lies in the fact that he can accurately analyze the weaknesses of his victims and then use these flaws for his own advantage. Despite the fact that this play is two-dimensional, this play becomes one of my favorite one and there are plenty of reasons. The first point belongs to language, which is the key. Moliere sophisticatedly used essential words in order to express tiniest details and highlight delicate humor and satire, which is my second favorite part in this play. Even in translations, play still has its rhymes and reads with joy. Then I liked the characters and how all of them represent Barocco times and Louis XIV and king of France. Now we do not have anything like it and it is unusual to read something, which is not associated with our time. Even more, it emphasizes that King is an absolute power and deride church as an institution.